The Gordon Research Conference on The Chemistry, Physiology and Structure of Bones and Teeth is now in its thirty-sixth year. This particular conference has been a primary driving force in accelerating research progress in skeletal/dental tissue biology. It brings together many of the world's leading investigators as well as most of the brightest young scholars who are active in hard tissue research. In short, the Gordon Conference on Bones and Teeth is known and recognized to be the most influential research conference in the field. This meeting is remarkably cost-effective in part due to the unique administrative support provided by the Gordon Research Conference Organization. The purpose of the proposal is to request funds to partially defray costs of speakers' transportation and subsidence scientific community in terms of scientific interchange and discourse; as such, it will stimulate further creativity in bone and tooth research in the coming year. The 1989 Conference will focus attention on each of the following critical areas of hard tissue research: (a) skeletogenesis and vascularization; (b) selected diseases of bone and cartilage metabolism; (c) growth factors and hormones; (d) gene expression of matrix proteins; (e) cellular mechanisms of hard tissue formation; (f) matrix structure and mineral formation.